Bangkok social

[NanLaew]

Going to be a bit busy early March with buddies coming in for a Bangkok stopover. I haven't had a Bangkok 'thrash' for a few years. What's the latest on closing hours in the usual SC and NEP emporiums? What's the latest on after-hours casual sidewalk imbibes? I guess there's a 'Buddha Day' somewhere in the mix as well?

 

Thanks!

NL

[Just Weird]

There are no after-hours pavement imbiberies and only Makha Bucha Day on the 1st.  I can't help you with the Cowboy or Nana dives' hours.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

I know nothing about Cowboy and Nana anymore. But if there comes a few hours where you want to avoid the "What You Name" game, Scruffy Murphy's on Soi 23 is a cool, affordable pub, taken over from the Queen Vic. Farther out is Robin Hood, Herrity's and Royal Oak all on Suk 33/1.

 

And even a bit farther out, where a lot of activities are headed these days, there's W District Night Market just past Phra Khanong BTS, thronged by local pretties but really just a great place to hang, eat and drink. Cheap Charlie's has moved to a container village on Suk soi 50, beside the Tesco Lotus. 

 

Londoner Pub is way out at Pattanakarn soi 30-32.

 

As noted, after-hours street bars are all but a glorious memory.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[smokie36]

Cowboy will be up and running till the small hours for sure...no idea on Nana.

[Just Weird]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

There are no after-hours pavement imbiberies and only Makha Bucha Day on the 1st.  I can't help you with the Cowboy or Nana dives' hours.

Just been reading another thread and it seems that there are some street bars still operating, specifically, in the very salubrious Soi 7.  Sounds like a great place to take visiting mates as they even provide a piss bucket on the pavement if you don't want to piss against the wall.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Just Weird

[NanLaew]

Thanks for the tips on SC and Sukhhumvit.

 

Where are the NEP specialists! I still need some waypoints for safe navigation in there.

 

Is Day & Night still in operation on Soi 4? Always was a great staging point on the 'transition zone' so to speak.

Edited February 16, 2018 by NanLaew

[impulse]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

Just been reading another thread and it seems that there are some street bars still operating, specifically, in the very salubrious Soi 7.  Sounds like a great place to take visiting mates as they even provide a piss bucket on the pavement if you don't want to piss against the wall.

 

How do you prop yourself up without the wall?  

 

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

Just been reading another thread and it seems that there are some street bars still operating, specifically, in the very salubrious Soi 7.  Sounds like a great place to take visiting mates as they even provide a piss bucket on the pavement if you don't want to piss against the wall.

Do you know if Soi 7's salacious salubriousness can still be found at the Magic Table?

[Just Weird]

2 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Do you know if Soi 7's salacious salubriousness can still be found at the Magic Table?

In Soi 7/1, yes.

[jaiyenyen]

8 hours ago, NanLaew said:

Is Day & Night still in operation on Soi 4?

Morning Night? Yes. Stumble Inn next door is also worth a visit.

[buick]

this sounds like blind leading the blind.  good luck.

[BobBKK]

Thermae?  

[NanLaew]

6 hours ago, buick said:

this sounds like blind leading the blind.  good luck.

Actually it's more a case of me, the old, retired here, been-there-done-that and no longer really interested in all that malarkey leading him, the slightly younger (but still old) only been-there-once-a-fair-few-years-ago-but-somehow-missed-the-plot-and-crashed-and-burned-too-early-so-anxious-to-discover-what-his-mates-said-he-missed. You know, the now married guy with daughter just off to uni who, by dint of a flight layover on his way to work elsewhere, is presented with a golden opportunity to play "barfine my sister me" and spot the ladyboy.

 

It should be entertaining to say the least. If there's any uptake on watching this slow-motion train wreck, PM me and I will give you a waypoint.

 

1 hour ago, BobBKK said:

Thermae?  

Reincarnation is real?

Edited February 18, 2018 by NanLaew

[SooKee]

FWIW I was at a bar on Soi 20 on Tuesday (13th) night and a cousin of one of staff had come along for a drink after work.  Apparently the cousin is Thai / Malaysian, speaks multiple languages and is a translator for the Immigration Police.  She had been to a big meeting involving army, police and immigration about the 'current situation', the 'current situation' being the bars in the area getting shut down at 12 prompt with Cowboy and Nana getting a slightly more relaxed 1-2 am, but of late 1am (not sure as I only go to Cowboy / Nana to show visitors if they insist they need to go).

 

The translator was saying the reason for the shut downs was due to a few displays of unrest regarding elections in the last couple of weeks and the shut downs were to 'keep the lid' on so to speak.  She said that it would continue for the rest of the week and, if there were no further problems, would start to ease of the week after (that being week commencing 19/2/18).  Not sure how accurate the information is but it certainly had a ring of truth about it as the current wave of early shut-downs seemed to just come out of the blue about 10 days ago (maybe longer, been laid up with a bloody flu bug so not been out much).

On the night I met her, sure enough Sois 20/22 started to bring the shutters down at 12:00 and were all closed up by 12:30.  Friends of two of the staff members had said that Nana was shut down at 1:00am the night before.  Out at Huai Khwang though there are no problems with business as usual.  I was out at one large Thai style place there on Wednesday and when I left at 2:00am it was still buzzing.

 

Last night I'd been out in Soi 11 and the manager at Oskar was saying they expected to be shut down around 1:00 am.  I took a taxi back to Soi 22 just after midnight and several places on Sukhumvit had shut down already, including 'The Penalty Spot', a fairly big and generally lively sports bar / pub opposite Soi 20.  Met up with a chum at a bar in Soi 22 and the owner there said they had got until 1:30 am before needing to close.  So it seems that it's easing off and they maybe slowly starting to get back to normality.  Hopefully by the time your friends visit it'll be business as usual, until the next time the 'Killjoy Squad' flex their muscles again.

 

There are still a few street bars in operation in Soi 23, Asok Montri Road (especially the one near the Cowboy junction), Soi 7 and a few I've noticed in Thong Lo, all of them mostly when transiting through the areas by taxi.

[blackcab]

I drove past Soi Cowboy on Asok-Montri at 3.30am last Friday and I can absolutely confirm that the pavement bars on the street were open, playing music and serving drinks. They were busy - absolutely no mistake.

 

I drove round 3 or 4 times and it was still going strong - then my son fell asleep and I headed home. That's the only sort of late night I get now!

[NanLaew]

On 2/18/2018 at 12:48 PM, SooKee said:

The translator was saying the reason for the shut downs was due to a few displays of unrest regarding elections in the last couple of weeks and the shut downs were to 'keep the lid' on so to speak.  She said that it would continue for the rest of the week and, if there were no further problems, would start to ease of the week after (that being week commencing 19/2/18).  Not sure how accurate the information is but it certainly had a ring of truth about it as the current wave of early shut-downs seemed to just come out of the blue about 10 days ago (maybe longer, been laid up with a bloody flu bug so not been out much).

 

That's an interesting, insider view. Since there are no dates for elections and an alleged growing discontent about the perpetual delays among the locals, it's a surprise that revelries that cater mostly for non-voting, non-resident, non-interested, non-Thais are being targeted for early shut down. It's funny that the seem to have an expected date when things may go 'off the boil' so somethings up. Maybe a "party political broadcast" from certain individuals in exile but not too far away at the moment?

[SooKee]

 

That's an interesting, insider view. Since there are no dates for elections and an alleged growing discontent about the perpetual delays among the locals, it's a surprise that revelries that cater mostly for non-voting, non-resident, non-interested, non-Thais are being targeted for early shut down. It's funny that the seem to have an expected date when things may go 'off the boil' so somethings up. Maybe a "party political broadcast" from certain individuals in exile but not too far away at the moment?

Yeah I was quite surprised really. I didn't start the conversation so not like I was looking for an explanation where it might have been a loss of face for not knowing. She'd just been to the meeting and had been explaining to the bar owner what it was all about.

 

I'd seen in the news about small packets of unrest / protest and as you say couldn't see the connection between those and shutting down, primarily tourist / farang, drinking haunts. She did say though there was a desire to make sure visitors don't get over excited about it all? Bizarre. But then I've stopped looking for logical links between what's happening and what they do. I'd venture most of the tourists wouldn't give a damn let alone get excited. The response to any issue has often been to kill off anything like entertainment so I can see there being some truth in what she was saying. She was a mature woman and came across as very well educated and sensible, not just spouting some mindless drivel.

 

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